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Spit-Viper Cat
The Spit-Viper Cat is not a real species but is fictional and was created by RussleH. Here are the facts (Vippereus Cattis) scientific name Description Spit viper cats are found in a variety of different fur colors. More often seen colors are greys and browns or a mixture of the two. In norther areas where the Taiga Tufted Spit-Viper Cat is found, cats with gray and white fur colors are dominate. To the desert areas like the north american Death Valley region, Kalahari Desert, Great Plains, where Desert Spit-Viper Cats are found, cats with brown, tan and rare gold-blonde fur colors are primarily seen. Cats in the desert have evolved to live with little water and are relitively smaller and nocturnal to survive life in the desert. The most common spit-viper is the Timber Spit-Viper, who are the stars of the SVRT project and their many documentaries, are the most common breed. They themselves have typically grey, brown and rustic red fur colors but rare occasions of albinos or simply white cats are common. Cats with black fur are almost unheard of an although they may have black flecks on their pelts or unususally dark, only one pure black spit-viper cat has ever been recorded in any project involving spit-viper cats and it was a female who lived a record-breaking lifetime of 13 years named Keeper Hunters. There is one subspecies of the Timber Spit-Viper Cat, known as the Mountanious Cat, who is distinctly shorter and sturdier than it's Timber cousins with a dull brown-grey pelt. Name Origions Spit-Viper Cats were first given their name when early pioneers first saw the cats hunting. At first, they though that they had venom stores on their fangs like some snake species and it was though that they used thier 'venom' to kill thier prey. As further investigation was done, they noticed that the cats did have venom in thier mouths like snakes and they did have fangs, though they were not the enlarged K-9 teeth that perminately are seen hanging out of the mouths of adults but were instead very small teeth directly behind the K-9 teeth but were only used to kill prey like birds and squirrels that were not immediately killed upon capture. Although, the therory of the cats using thier venom to kill rivals was kept strong until the first researchers proved them wrong after observing several encounters and hard-fought wars. However, the name Spit-Viper came from the observation of competitive individuals who would bow up and hiss, thus making a VSST sound that launched venom at their rivals. This spitting behavior gave them their name and it was later confirmed that the venom in one individuals fangs could not kill another unless it was directly injected into that of a direct main vein like that of the jugular. Social Behavior The social behavior lists the cats as a cooprative cat species. Spit Viper cats live in closely related family groups that are headed by a dominate female, who is the group's leader and only breeding female and the dominate male, who is the group's typically largest, only breeding male. Dominate individuals controll the group and are often seen attacking, bullying and evicting subordinate group members. Typically, the older animals in the group will outrank those whom are younger. However, acceptions are made. If a female of younger age wishes to acheive rank over a female of older age, then they would generally fight until a clear winner emerges. Social hierarchies are not perminate and willl often change. Kits, like adults, also display a system of hierarchy. When young kits play, they wrestle to tune their fighting, hunting and domineering skills for when they are adults. All individuals work to help raise a group's kits. Both males and females will work to raise young, even if they are not thier own. Only dominate individuals do not take part in caring for young. They do to an extent when it comes to defending them from predators and rivals and providing food but babysitting nurturing are not part of thier responsibilites. Mostly, young males who are not of age to leave home and rove (around age two through seven) and subordinate females (one year until death or attaining dominance) are in charge of kit care. Kits are considered kits until they are one year of age. At this point they are called Juvinilles or Yearlings.Social encounters, such as fights within or outside of the family are common. Fights within the family-called a pack-are usually reffered to as domestic disputes. They commonly take place between indivuduals who are competing for rank. Ongoing interal domestic fights are commonly found in that of challengers trying to win dominance over a current monarch.Group warefare or encounters are more serious. They can be over land, kits, or tresspassing into another group's home range. While encounters usually deal with one group spotting another group on thier range or close to their borders and result in a charge and retreat, fights are much different and are limited to events in which actuall fighting-and occasionally killing-occur. Fights last much longer than encounters and typically result in injuries for both sides and almost never in 'ties' between two groups. As many as three or four groups can all be enganged in an encounter or a fight at once. Group Encounters: Rival packs of spit viper cats do not tollorate each other as they are a highly territorial species. Two enemy groups will spot each other at a great distance away and often the smaller side retreats to avoid confrontation. However, two packs who are unwilling to flee will fight and during the fight, rivals may be badly injured or even killed. Fights are almost always over territory but can occasionally be because of raids on dens or sudden and unexpected attacks launched typically by the largest, most aggressive group within the area. Intergroup Encounters: Fighting within a pack is not rare but is not often. Reasons for fighting within the usually close-knit pack is the result of mutany or dominance shifts. It may also be cause by a subordinate female killing a dominant's litter, or subordinates attempting to usurp the throne. Males and females reguarly evict competitiors and rarely do subordinates get to remain in their family for an extended amount of time. Intergroup encounters that get to tense often result in group splits and occasionally they do not reunite. Evictions: Evictions occur when a dominate male or female, occasionally a subordinate individual, ousts a rival from the pack. Babysitting/Kit Rearing: Almost all offspring born into a pack belong to the dominate pair and the whole group will work together to help suckle, babysit and defend the kits. Both males and females will take thier turns babysitting for a day at a time. The dominate pair do not participate in this behavior. If or when the litter survives to hunt with the family, experianced individuals will reguarly feed and teach the new kits how to hunt. However, young kits are also easy targets for older group members to steal food from. They can also be easily predated or killed in a group encounter. It takes a lot of hard work for a whole litter to survive to one year old, which is considered full grown. Dominate Female's Role The role of the dominate female is to produce young (as many as well over 100) and provide stability for a group. Her job is to make group involved decisions. The dominate female is usually the strongest, toughest or most capable female for the job. Many females may be engaged in a fight that can last up to 6 months to attain the role. Females can hold their positions from anywhere to a few days to many years. It is typically the females who make the military and social decisions that include group interactions and evictions.WHile a dominate femlae is typically an agressive figure, a pregnant dominate female is a different story. Pregnant dominate females will often become more aggressive to females who are rivals in age, weight or status. They almost always target older or slightly younger females for eviction when they become pregnant but are usually willing to allow their evicted subjects return after the birth of her pups. However, subordinate females are not always going to give birth after a dominate female. In situations that a subordinate female gives birth after the group's dominate female, the subordinate may decide to kill the outranking female's litter to protect her own. This situation works vise versa in a dominate female's case and both dominate females and subordinates posess the ability to kill rivals if nessisary. Dominate Male's Role Though the dominate male is often less known or reveared than the dominate female, his role is no less important. The dominate male may be born in the group or be an unrelated immigrant male. When a male first joins the group, he must first fight his first challengers, typically natal males or the dominate male in the group, to accheive passage. If he wishes to acheive a higher rank, then a fight with the dominate male and other close rivals will play out and if he is stronger, heavier and more driven for the position, he can acheive his position immediately and will often oust most rival males within his first month of dominance. Dominate males may kill the young kits of the group's dominate female who have not been fathered by he himself or other males within the group. In most cases, the dominate male is more often seen attacking, driving out and bullying the other males in the group and doing a large amount of sentenial duty. Rival males who do not immediately join the group are often chased away and a dominate male who is sucessful in defending his title may hold his position for many years, fathering nearly 80 of the dominate female's offspring. Diet The spit-viper cat preffers to prey on small animals such as lizards, snakes, rodents, amphibions and birds. Diets of eggs, grasses and berries are common during hard times of drought or famon and the bringing down of large animals such as their own predators like eagles and coyotes as well as sucessful deer huntings are rare but are also listed as prey as 7 out of 19 groups show sucessful kills of deer, eagles and coyotes. Spit Viper cats have been known to eat nearly anything that they can catch and kill. Lifespan The average spit-viper cat lives anywhere from three to nine years. Young individuals may suffer untimely fates such as predation or killings from other group members or rivals while, in some cases individuals will live to be over a decade but seldomly over the age of 12. Predators Being a smaller mamal, spit viper cats have multiple predators such as raptors and other mamals as well as occasional snakes and poachers. Raptors: Golden Winged Eagles, White Clawed Eagles, Black Hawks and Speckaled Brown Hawks are all common predators of a grown spit viper cat. Smaller hawks and falcons may prey on young kits but not on adults as they are to large to manage. Other Mamals: Coyotes, Daggar and Dire Wolves, Bears, and any other, larger creature, will readily try or attempt to hunt a spit viper cat and some who can will follow a spit viper cat into their den but must be ready to be attacked because as soon as an unwelcome guest gets in, they may not be able to get out. Snakes: Snakes do not often kill spit viper cats for food unless it is a small, struggling kit. Many spit viper cats are bitten by snakes while hunting or when entering and underground den. However, biting a spit viper cat or hunting spit viper cat kits is dangerous for the snake as well because a spit viper cat will readily eat a snake, given the chance. Hunters: Poachers shoot spit viper cats for their claws, fur or fangs and may also keep them as pets to extract thier venom, which is illegal as spit viper cats do not bite humans and if they do, thier venom is not potent but instead helps heal the wound. Diseases The most common diseases contracted by spit viper cats is Teberculosis (TB), and Rabies. They both result in having to be put down. Individuals who contract TB are euthenized while individuals with rabies are shot as quickly as possible and the researchers of the group who have been working with the pack are given a series of rabies shots. However, oddly enough, rabies in one individual is not contageous. Therefore, it continues to be safe to work with the pack. Black Jaw is an infection caused when the venom packs in a spit viper cat's lower jaw becomes infected and begins to rot out, causing pain and certain death. Individuals who have Black Jaw are euthenized but it is not contageous. Category:Animals of Kazi